When the Democrats opposition is headed by a man who resembles a shaven ,lobotomized chimp with the interlectual dexterity of a beached, heavily brain damaged Walrus ; you really start to see how abysmally poor the democrats are to still fail miserably to knock him out of his tree , or even to hit the right critical notes for the Republicans misfires overall.
The real, important issues are so far off the table in US politics, even Bush's rivals can't see what obviously needs to be said in order to prove ones standing in the public respect stakes.
Observing and studying the tenets and the ideology/belief system behind the terrorists actions are the only key to fighting an effective war on terrorism and understanding how their minds work. Bush thinks aiding muslim tsunami victims will change islamic extremists into US flag waving, Baseball fans overnight (not with an ideology that tells them to make relentless war on unbelievers he won't).
His political rivals have an even more pitiful stance towards fighting terrorism :
simply don't fight it at all (just let them keep attacking us until they get fed up .... right?).
The right don't get it, the left don't get it.... there's no hope if we don't all start realising, no matter what you label yourself as in America... whether it be rightwing, leftwing, agnostic, atheist, christian, jew, communist, liberal, conservative, black,white, asian, latino, anglo saxon..... it does not matter. Despite all our differences we all have something in common, the terrorists hate us, are our enemies and want us dead... whether you voted for Bush or Kerry or even if you didn't vote at all.
And please remember, just because you loath Bush, thats no reason to be in denial about the threat islamic fundamentalist terrorists present to all non-muslims ..... not just in the states but the world.
It can't be said any more open, honest and to the point than that, so lets cut the shit before we start.
Posted by K.A at February 8, 2005 04:39 AMLet's add Pete Stark and Barbara Boxer to the list of real-time Democrat heroes.
Posted by pessimist at February 8, 2005 05:12 AMAnother hero - a Vietnamese-American Democrat in Texas - Hubert Vo.
Posted by pessimist at February 8, 2005 05:58 AMHow about Hamilton County (Ohio) Commissioner , Todd Portune? He won this year making it the first time in that a democrat has won re-election to the Commission. He would be a great candidate to take on Ohio Senator Mike DeWine in '06. Commissionor Portune has proven that by sticking to Democratic ideals and running an honest campaign, a candidate can be elected in a heavy Republican area. For the record, Portune received more votes in Hamilton County than Bush. Once again, I think he'll make a great Senator.
Posted by Yossarian at February 8, 2005 06:25 AMSomeone wrote something to me recently that's had me thinking a lot, and I've occassionally alluded to it in my weblog, but it's this: Are the Democrats wimpy because those anthrax letters really scared the hell out of them? My correspondent asserted it as fact; I'm not so sure, but maybe he's right.
It does seem particularly scary that someone appeared to be trying to assasinate the Democratic leadership, and the press made almost nothing of it.
So maybe those Democrats are even braver than we think. Maybe they've even wondered to themselves whether the deaths of Wellstone and other Democrats that were astonishingly convenient for the Republicans were mere coincidence after all. (Maybe it's not entirely paranoid to wonder.) Because if these things have crossed their minds, if they really think that standing up could put them in mortal danger, they are very courageous indeed to do so. (Whether they are right to wonder or not.)
I did find myself a bit startled at how nervous Barbara Boxer sounds when I've heard her speaking in public lately. I dunno, maybe she has always sounded like that, but it just seemed odd for someone who has been in government for so long to sound so quavery about speaking publicly. Could it be something other than stage fright?
Given the tenor of the hate-mongering that has become increasingly more public on the part of the right-wingers, it's perhaps prudent to wonder about these things.
Posted by Avedon at February 8, 2005 07:07 AMWhatever happened to the search for the anthrax mailer??? You never hear anything regarding this anymore. And nothing on the Plame investigation either...
Posted by John B. at February 8, 2005 08:00 AMJohn B., since the Anthrax mailer only targeted Democrats, there is no reason to press the investigation (especially when all evidence pointed towards an American perp).
Posted by T2 at February 8, 2005 10:01 AMdeaths of Wellstone and other Democrats
Who are the others?
Posted by idook at February 8, 2005 10:41 AMMel Carnahan, Dem Senate candidate, killed in plane crash 3 weeks before 2000 election
Posted by Sharon at February 8, 2005 12:53 PMWho are the others?
bob matsui, vocal supporter of social security, from a rare illness weeks before the president starts trying to dismantle SS.
jfk, jr
ron brown (but he was such an insider - why would they get rid if him?)
Sharon, and remember who Carnahan was running against? Jim Talent.
Idook, go to Goggle and you will be surprised how many politicians have died in "small aircraft". And here's the kicker, most of them, if not all, have been Democrats.
Posted by Judith at February 8, 2005 03:52 PMHeck, I'll save you the trouble of looking up names:
From a historical standpoint Democrats are twice as likely to die in air crashes as Republicans. Frequently, those who have died were known to have been either involved in the investigation of covert operations or to have taken highly controversial positions in opposition to vested government interests.
Several names on the list are readily connected to intrigue.
Rep. Hale Boggs, D-La., was killed in 1972 and had been an outspoken member of the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of JFK. Various sources reported that he had openly expressed doubts about the commission's findings.
Rep. Jerry Litton, D-Mo., was killed while campaigning for a U.S. Senate seat from Missouri nearly two months before the 1976 election. This was exactly the same fate that was to befall Missouri Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan twenty-four years later.
Rep. Larry McDonald, D-Ga. and the national chairman of the John Birch Society and creator of a private intelligence operation called Western Goals, was killed on KAL 007 after it had mysteriously veered off course on a flight to South Korea and ventured several hundred miles into Soviet territory. The plane was shot down by the Soviet air force. At the time, McDonald's Western Goals was being exposed in an LAPD intelligence scandal linked to massive domestic spying, the CIA and covert operatives like Gen. John Singlaub.
Rep. Larkin Smith, D-Miss. was killed in a private plane crash in 1989. At the time he had been working with veterans of U.S. Army Special Forces looking into the deaths of five Green Beret colonels, all of whom had been connected to a covert CIA drug operation known as Watchtower. [Details of Smith's death are included in the FTW package "The Tyree Papers."]
Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, a Democrat, was killed in a plane crash in Croatia on April 3, 1996. There are many unresolved mysteries with this incident, not the least of which is a color photograph of a post mortem Brown, which is frequently displayed by comedian/activist Dick Gregory, clearly showing a bullet wound in the back of his skull.
John Tower, a recently retired Republican senator from Texas known for his heavy drinking, was writing a book about the Iran-Contra affair when he was killed in a plane crash in 1991. Tower had reportedly been extremely unhappy when he had been denied an appointment as secretary of defense by President George Herbert Walker Bush. Tower had also been the chairman of a Reagan-appointed independent commission investigating Iran-Contra.
Wellstone
JFK Jr.
Then of course, we have non aircraft "accident" but out and out murder:
JFK
RFK
King
Sharon, yeah, I always loved the part of the story where Republican Jim Talent looses to a dead man.
Posted by Judith at February 8, 2005 04:10 PMLost to a dead man....but still good enough for George.
Posted by Sharon at February 8, 2005 05:47 PMLOL. Well, so was Asscroft.
Posted by Judith at February 8, 2005 06:23 PMAvedon, I am quite sure that more than one message has been received by those who are opposing this president. Could some of them be fearful? You betcha.
Posted by Judith at February 8, 2005 10:27 PMWhile I am reticent about any response to this query, here goes.
As a non-liberal (aka conservative) political junkie I still enjoy reading the other side, if for no other reason that to get my juices going and to sharpen my own debate.
But I am at somewhat of a loss to understand the attitudes on this and similar blogs.
For example. I understand how you can be geniunely opposed to the Iraq war. Whether it's as partisan as being anti Bush or whether it's a real belief that the policy is flawed or if it's just a pacifist attitude that no war is right, I can understand and respect the view, even if I disagree.
Same goes for Social Security. I can understand opposition to the Bush proposals. Again whether it's as simple as you oppose anything he supports or if it's a matter of thinking the policy proposed is wrong or if it's a matter of not being a fan of the capitalist system, I understand. I think you're wrong, but you don't need my approval for views either.
What I don't understand is the next step in your policy views. Which is to either blast everything connected with a policy, good or bad.
For example. You may have opposed the war, you may still think it is going to bite us in the end. But why so much hostility toward the elections ?? Why the need to post voting percentages and get excited over any flaw in the turnout numbers ?
I would think that even if you didn't like the war or we don't like who won, we could at least be together on the idea that free elections for people is good, especially when those people used to be shot for not saluting fast enough.
Or on Social Security. Fine if you don't support the current reform ideas. But to stick your head in the sand and say everything is fine ??
Demographics are pretty non partisan and they are not very positive for the program. Yes there will be enough to pay 70% of benefits in 50 years, but personally I wouldn't call getting 70% of my paycheck a win. The system needs to be dealt with and we need to deal with in now rather than when the train is 10 feet away.
I guess my broad point is that there does seem to be some pretty sharp people here, but you seem to be mired so deeply in Bush hate that you tend to come off as pretty extreme.
I know for sure there were guys on my side of the debate that did that in the 90's but I hardly would think you guys want to match up with them ??
Anyway, just tossing my 3 cents (inflation) and hoping for some reasoned responses.
Or not, that's entertaining, if somewhat of a letdown.
Posted by Jim at February 8, 2005 10:59 PMJim,
You answered your own question in your second sentence.
Only through a vigorous debate, encompassing all manner of view points, can a reasonable concensus be acheived. I have no desire to shut up the extreme rightwingers. Pointing out the fallacy of their arguments is easy enough. (Having access to resources facilitating the ability to confront those fallacies is another issue.)
It's that simple. The best way to convince others that your policy is better than theirs is to answer all criticisms, not to ignore them or to obfuscate or to circumvent or supress open debate.
The Bush administration is using the Iraqi election to support their policy decisions. Saying "See, look what we did!" If Bush is going to wear it as a feather in his cap than he has to expect those in opposition to his policies to point out the shortcomings. And generally Left criticism of Bush's Iraq policy ties into overall discontent with the ideological underpinnings of the entire administration. Criticism of the Iraq vote can't be viewed as distinct from the general distrust and discontent with the Bush administration. You view that as Bush-hate. Those on the left view it as opposition to the totality of what Bush and his underlings are doing to our nation and the world.
Posted by muckcat at February 9, 2005 06:28 AMIf we are extreme, we have been made that way by this President and this Administration.
Posted by Judith at February 9, 2005 01:34 PM